Breaking The Ice (2)

DVD, Enterprise S1 (Breaking The Ice) (2)

Unquestionably, this episode marked the first danger sign for the series where either the limitations of Trek in this form, or a failure for new writers to use the characters and situations well, became apparent. Whatever the reason, I imagine this is the kind of episode which gave the series its bad reputation, as while the patient will be forgiving, for casual viewers this would probably little more than a bore. It's a little boring even watching it from my perspective as someone paying great attention for the sake of a detailed review, and that's never a good sign. The issues are that we have three or four plots, something I'm not ordinarily averse to if they show progression, but in this case none of which really feel essential or go anywhere: the main one being the exploration of an unrecorded comet, the secondary one featuring the Vulcans buzzing around, a lesser plot running through the episode about T'Pol getting a secret message from the Vulcans, and a little side order of Archer responding to the curiosity of a class of children from Ireland with a Q&A on the Bridge. Most are either problematic, slow or fail to go anywhere. It's not that it's a bad episode in the manner of a 'Precious Cargo' or 'Singularity,' the kind of dull rehashes or nonentities that Season 2 gave us, it's just that after a salvo of pretty good-to-greats this is the first to fall short on all counts.

Let's start with the main story, the discovery of the biggest unknown comet an Earth ship has ever encountered. The effects weren't the best CGI I always thought, even at the time. It all looked very basic and even 'DS9' had done better asteroidal formations a few years previous (see 'Treachery, Faith and The Great River'), not to mention its beautiful rendition of a comet in the opening credits almost ten years before! Starting off unimpressed isn't a problem, it's a challenge, but one the episode failed to live up to. I perfectly understand the need for the series to be about exploring, that's one of Trek's hallmarks and something it has largely lost now, but the exploration needs to lead to something: a new race, an important discovery, whether of scientific value or personal for the characters. It wasn't clear what the benefit of the discovery was, Reed and Mayweather sent to dig up a core sample, as at the end it's more about an action sequence where they have to get off the comet before the direct sunlight raises the temperature beyond bearable. That in itself sounds like a terrific idea for a tense story, but in execution it didn't have that drama at all (see 'Shuttlepod One' in this same season for an example that works better). It doesn't even entirely make sense as Mayweather falls while climbing out of the crater they'd blasted, injuring himself. So they were on their way back to the Shuttlepod, and only after Mayweather has tried to climb out do they decide to take the core sample with them. But they had already decided to return so wouldn't they have prioritised that?

I liked the idea that something they did, a failure to calculate what would happen to the trajectory of the comet when explosives impacted the surface, caused them a life and death situation. They're supposed to be making mistakes, they're pioneers. At the same time T'Pol is supposed to be their Science Officer and should have paid more attention so she could have warned them that such an explosion might result in that eventuality, but no extrapolations are made. Her excuse may be that she had a lot on her mind, but in that case she should show some level of owning up to a mistake or oversight, but there's never any connection made with her. The other problem is as much about what is missing from the drama as what is there. This was a prime opportunity for the writers to get to know Reed and Travis as we did in 'Strange New World' when Travis and the others sit round a campfire. The closest we come to anything personal is when the pair build a snowman, which, incidentally, Reed promises the Captain will be removed shortly when he reminds them about the need for professionalism (something the 'Discovery' crew could do with), and how they're being observed. Instead of doing what he said he would Reed later embellishes it into a snow Vulcan, Travis laughing along with him! But we don't get to see them working as a pair, talking to each other, getting beneath the surface, the comet of which could have served as a metaphor, but there's none of that. All that happens is a slow trudge back to the Shuttlepod when they're under threat.

Even the effects in this sequence are suspect: the cracks that appear in the snowy ground don't look quite right and I thought I even noticed it go over the image of one of their arms at one point, further detracting from the effects in the episode. I will say that they did another classy redress of the classic cave set, this time standing in for the rocky, icy surface of the comet, so that old favourite was still being used extremely well. I hope the cave set's manager was able to get it higher residuals on the evidence of how well it was being used! But further to the detriment of the episode it recycles an idea already performed perfectly well in 'Terra Nova,' only two episodes before: the Shuttlepod dropping through a crevasse and having to be pulled out. I don't know what it was other than the fact that they were already reusing their ideas again, but I didn't warm to this sequence when it should have been great. Maybe it was the fact they'd already managed to survive such a trial before, and without the Vulcans' help, maybe it was that it didn't look so realistic this time. Whatever, the sequence fell short, much like the NX-01's grapplers. Again, I do understand the need for a situation in which Archer has to swallow his considerable pride and request assistance from his snooty Vulcan allies, and really it's all about showing what role T'Pol has taken on, but I feel it should have been achieved better.

The Vulcans spying on our crew was also something that had potential but never went anywhere. It makes sense that they'd suddenly be showing more interest in the little Enterprise after Archer showed them up for lying in front of their enemies, the Andorians, but that episode is never called back to. And if they truly had been spying then they never would have been seen, as Captain Vanik states. It might have been more effective if they'd been keeping out of range and somehow NX-01 spotted them, or through some freak anomaly their sensors picked them up, like a spatial 'change in the wind.' Instead they come across as slightly intimidating. T'Pol's there to explain the Vulcan side, but then she's under suspicion for breaking her promise of not contacting her people without permission. This is where you can feel some unfair treatment toward her. Yes, she'd been condescending towards her human crew at the start, but by the end of the first episode she'd, if not settled in, at least made the decision to remain, which she didn't have to do. It may have been through curiosity (and latent genes of ancestors that had been interested in humanity as we learn about in Season 2), or it may have been orders from above that she merely accepted, but this episode marks the second time she had a choice to leave and decided to stay, which suggests that though she may not even know it herself, she is drawn to humans - why would she have been assigned to Earth in the first place, or was it being on Earth that activated her curiosity, couched as it was in superiority and the assurance of her race being better developed.

T'Pol is the one saving grace of the episode, all the best moments stem from her. She's there as the voice of reason when Archer's emotions become heated. And he does become a little weak, his old prejudices against Vulcans coming to the fore and being proved true by the intractable, unimpressed Vanik who doesn't respond a brass millimetre to all Archer's attempts to be diplomatic. He comes close to being the most Vulcan we've seen on the series so far in that he doesn't display emotion, but at the same time you can see in his eyes that he betrays it, and it's not the passive reserve that I like from the other Treks, there's a fiery steel behind those eyes. And he doesn't even seem capable of a proper eyebrow arch. Maybe it was the makeup making it difficult, but I really wanted a proper quizzical look in the same manner as Spock or Tuvok, and I didn't get it. There were little things like this that would have helped to improve the episode, but were missing: when they all leave the Captain's table, only Trip remains and it would have been ideal to have a long shot of the whole room to emphasise Trip being completely alone there, but it didn't happen. That, and some other things are of course subjective, my personal wishes and how I see it could have been better directed or written, but I still see things like the drama not being used effectively beyond the minor flaws.

One reason the episode drags is that it's too grounded! I love the reality of Trek, but in this case, with the extended question and answer session, I felt it was a little too contemporary. I imagine this is just the sort of thing that would happen, it probably has for the International Space Station or something like that, with people from Earth being allowed to ask questions and have them answered by the astronauts in space. I even have to say I liked that sequence of the episode, but it did go on a little too long and somehow it takes away from the cool factor of the series. It makes things look almost mundane in a way, despite the fact that it is interesting to hear about these stock questions about what life is like on a starship. So ultimately I'm undecided because it's a charming scene, yet not necessary and is a plot too many, perhaps. I'd like to know how the children's drawings made it to the NX-01, too - they can't beam things that far (this isn't the ridiculous Kelvinverse!), and the Vulcan ship certainly wouldn't stoop to delivering paper mail. So… fax? It would have made more sense to show the images on a computer screen or PADD rather than give the impression they'd been printed out. It was just one more thing that didn't make a great deal of sense.

As I said, T'Pol is the only part of the episode that really works, and her mysterious communication from the Vulcans (in beautiful Vulcan script as seen on her monitor - great attention to detail!), is the only drama of the episode. When Archer said she'd promised not to communicate I was thinking she could still be adhering to that if she was only receiving a message, not replying, and I was surprised she never brought that up. It ties directly into the fourth season and it appears to be complete fluke that Trip was the one selected to read her personal letter. I really loved Hoshi's sense of propriety and discretion in choosing not to read the message even though she'd been tasked with translating it from the Vulcan. It's only a small moment, but she went up in my estimation, and it's these little choices that add to a character's morality as much as big crescendoes in the heat of drama. The same can be said for Trip who is so guilty about having read what was assumed as a secret transmission and discovered it was entirely personal, that he decides he has to inform T'Pol. Perhaps this was the start of where things went for them and why she trusts him so much later because he showed himself to be an honourable man. He clearly could have kept it to himself and she'd never have known the difference, but he needed to let her know her confidence had been broken. It's also completely in character for the Vulcans to go through private channels for private messages, no matter what it looked like to the humans, because she wouldn't even have wanted to admit she was expecting a private message.

T'Pol is shown in quite a favourable light - next to Vanik she almost looks jolly and accommodating! I can identify somewhat with Vulcan ways (privacy; "I only drink water," says Vanik), it's one reason I like them so much, but I've never been happy with the general portrayal in the series. T'Pol here shows she's learnt a lot about human psychology when she reminds Archer that he's human, and that means he's free to choose (in this case to accept the offer of Vanik's help in rescuing the Shuttlepod), something she'd got out of the seemingly fruitless conversation with Trip in her Quarters (the first time he ever went in there, as well as the first mention of her betrothed, Koss, whom we'd eventually meet in Season 4). Trip doesn't see things as Vulcans see them, he's blinkered in that regard, but although his suggestions of how she could keep up with tradition and yet not leave the ship (it's customary for husband and wife to live together for a year after marriage so he suggests Koss could stay on Enterprise! Actually that might not have been a bad idea as T'Pol would've had a permanent Vulcan companion to sound off against), are typically unhelpful, a piece of his homespun way of looking at things does touch a chord: personal choice. For Vulcans, as T'Pol explains, commitment to tradition outweighs personal choice (sounds a bit like needs of the many over needs of the one, but more subtle than that), but she apparently follows his point of view, and gives us the best moment of the episode in that exchange with Archer, reminding him of choice, only Trip understanding where that's come from.

Choosing to stay with Enterprise further cements her dedication and commitment. I don't know if it was to Archer or to the crew, or whether she felt that's what the High Command would prefer her to do, or whether she felt that she now knew these people and would logically be a better choice to remain than for the Captain to have to break in a new Vulcan (or from her perspective, a new Vulcan having to break in the Captain!), or if she felt a certain responsibility to the ship and crew, that she knows how they act or react and she's more qualified to guide them than others would be. I don't know if any, all, or some of these things went through her head, or the heads of the writers. It might be completely selfish and she just sees this ship as an escape from all the restrained Vulcan ways she's maybe never quite fitted into. I don't know, but it's a rich vein to explore and to speculate over and it makes you appreciate her more now that she's rededicated herself to this position. The episode even ends on a high (a sugar high! As Trip said when extolling the virtues of pecan pie, 'It may not be good for the body, but it sure is good for the soul' - he'd get on famously with Deanna Troi, I can tell!), with T'Pol in her Quarters, a piece of pecan pie in front of her to symbolise her acceptance of human values and customs, tying her more tightly to her crew in a beautifully simple visual way. If only that had been the quality of the entire episode this would have kept up the hit rate of the season so far.

There had to be a failure at some point, and if this episode falls short on a number of points it does at least give us a few more details about Vulcan culture. The absolutely stunning ship design for one. I'd love to know the history of the design of Vulcan ships because we'd seen precious little before 'Enterprise' came along - the Vulcan Shuttle in 'The Motion Picture' and the craft at the end of 'First Contact' are the only ones that come immediately to mind, and there was never a set Vulcan style as there was for Klingon, Romulan, and most other races' ships. Probably because they were always seen as part of the Federation rather than being their own spacefaring culture, in which case you'd think more of their design would have been influential in Federation starships. Perhaps the amalgamation of all the founding races was taken into account, and in any case Earth's style tended to be the main source of inspiration, judging by the NX-01. But their ships were terrific, one of the things that has carried through into 'DSC' somewhat, though more angular in that century (John Eaves, what are you doing?). We also learn from T'Pol that caffeine has little effect on Vulcan physiology and that she can go without sleep for more than two days with little ill effect (just a slight headache), which again proves how cool the race is! Even their EV suits are way more advanced than what we see on NX-01 as Archer says he experienced one once and it was like flying around in your own little starship (a bit like the Thruster suit in 'TMP' or Burnham's EVA suit in 'The Vulcan Hello' maybe?).

To some extent reexamining this episode in greater detail and finding that my earlier impressions were correct and still hold up, is somewhat gratifying. Of course it would be nice if every episode I went back to proved to be better than I'd thought (I'm currently experiencing that phenomenon with 'DS9' Season 1, which is just so good, even though it's as unfinished as Odo's face, from where it would go), but at the same time you have to have weaker episodes to prove the quality of the others, and I would so much rather watch a boring episode of Trek that sprinkles a few new details about Vulcans in, or reiterates the things we already knew, than any episode of 'DSC' with its action-heavy, fantasy approach that tramples on all that was good about Trek in the past, because it's important to get that sense of place that Trek had, that sense of continuity and a consistent universe. This isn't one I'd go back to eagerly, but even it had worthwhile moments. It proved that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga's intense deep dive into the setting and characters paid off because this is the first they didn't have a hand in writing, and it shows how difficult it can be to write good drama for a new series that has yet to be established. They'd had months or years of preparation, they knew these people, they'd developed them, and one problem with the series was how well new writers adapted. It took until Season 3 for them to get another of likeminded ability in Manny Coto, and of course he went on to be its saviour (or would have been if it had been allowed to continue). Not enough credit is given to the creators on this series, and there is evidence that they were tiring of writing Trek, but without qualification I would say they gave it a terrific startup this season in the same manner as Kes pushing Voyager so far when she left.

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